KDs are designed/developed/inspired/mused/auto-suggested/indigested to make folks think; an especially uncommon experience among Democrats, Republicans, and jingoistic mainline denominationalists who continue to discourage dissent with their ever-threatening thought police.

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Confession from a Psalm 62 Kinda Guy

Yet, I gotta
confess that I was surprised by appreciation from the deepest recesses of my
soul for an unexpected token of affection on May 24, 2015.

I'll get to it
later; but, now, some random thoughts on being a Psalm 62 kinda guy.

@#$%

Anybody who gets
into the church business to be liked,
and there are lots of 'em still in churches while most of 'em have been run
out, has no clue about undershepherding
ministry in a Matthew 10, John 10, and Ephesians 6 kinda way.

Really, it's
impossible to be liked when
you've gotta love enough
not to be liked by
salt-shaking, light-reflecting, and praying/trying to be the good leaven that
mixes in to make better.

It's like the old
priest said to the young priest in The
Diary of a Country Priest, "Salt stings on an open wound; but
saves you from gangrene."

Most professional
churchworkers aren't willing to put their perks, pensions, and other temporal
treasures at risk for that kinda fidelity.

So they become,
as Dylan sang, "errand" girls and boys for the "wandering
desires" of people who need the real Jesus of the red letters a lot more
than the bastardized version being sold on TV and hawked by most American
churches.

Sooooooo if you're really,
really, really Berufed
into it, you're not gonna be able to survive by pleasing people; cause you're
gonna be damned if you do and damned if you don't and fidelity compels not
giving a damn about it because He called ya into it to connect others while connecting yourself to Him
by the book.

The only way to
survive is looking to Him and
Him alone for the emotional, intellectual, spiritual, and maybe
even physical stamina to hang in among people who are hung up on religions only
coincidental to Jesus by the book.

Psalm 62.

And, yeah,
Matthew 7:24ff. comes to mind.

@#$%

I don't do
Facebook.

Yeah, I know
there are lots of good uses for Facebook; like staying connected with family
around the globe, reaching bunches of people with information with the push of
a computer key, and telling people why ya really like Charmin and how there's a
cloud formation over Capron that looks just like...

I've heard -
O.K., peeked on occasion - to see how peers use it.

Whoa.

Charles Barkley's
verdict comes to mind: "It's for losers who need it to feel good about
themselves."

"Atta
boy!"

"You go,
girl!"

"I agree
with you!"

"Your place
or mine?"

Really.

Amazing.

I've heard some
folks collect about 10K friends.

Whoa.

Of course, the
downside is when someone unfriends
ya.

I know how that feels;
like when someone leaves the church for Pastor Billy Bob or...asks me to delete
their address from the list of folks receiving KDs cause they're incapable of sparing the ridicule by just
using the delete command
like I've done for years for those ED spams.

BTW, as one who
has counseled many married couples for four decades or so, I have a hard time
figuring out why there's even a need for those ads.

Be that as it is or is not, I
don't need Facebook to feel good about myself...or loved...or...

Psalm 62.

Hmm.

I wonder what the
Facebookers do when their net's down.

I'll get to that
later in the summer or early fall with "Facebook, Frogs, and Faith."

Seriously.

@#$%

Shopping for a
cross at a big mall over 35 years ago in Edison, New Jersey, I asked the
salesman if he'd let me see the store's stock.

He asked,
"Do you want one with or without the little man on it?"

That's a metaphor
for undershepherds
who've used their delete key
for Matthew 10, John 10, and Ephesians 6.

Must Jesus bear
the cross alone and all the world often
clergy go free?

Ouch.

Anyway, I've been
wearing a few around my neck for the longest time to remind me of my Beruf.

They also help on
Fright Night.

If you didn't see
the movie...

Moretheless, I've got
one of those nail crosses made by a colleague who went home to Jesus a long
time ago.

When I was
ordained, I got a beautiful porcelain-inlayed cross with our denominational
seal on it; and, over time, the porcelain has chipped away like, uh, me and,
uh, the franchise.

A few years ago,
I added a Lion of Judah ring for two reasons: (1) I don't like to wear rings on
my fingers; and (2) C.S. Lewis not to mention Bible fans will remember it's not
only our responsibility to care for the wounded but also, as lionized undershepherds to the Lion
of Judah Good Shepherd, to pray and labor to protect people from being wounded.

Aslan.

Well, getting
back to May 24, our 2015 Confirmation Class gave a beautiful cross to me at the
end of the second service on Sunday because, I guess, well, uh, you know,
uh,...

Though I'm
starting to look like Mr. T, I added it to my necklace...less than an hour
after the service.

They also made a
nice poster for me.

It's in my study.

Confessionally,
even though I'm a Psalm 62 kinda guy, I like it...because I love them...and,
uh, I like that they, uh, uh, uh,...

@#$%

PAM isn't big in these
parts of the Midwest...or East...or West...or Northeast...but, I hear,,,maybe
still in the Bible Belt.

When I left the
high steeples, I no longer had a shot at a DD because high steeples buy 'em for
their errand girls/boys because it makes 'em feel good about themselves in a
mutual, uh, uh, uh, kinda way.

I will wear my
crosses with the ring and with the latest addition from this year's CC until I
die.

Yeah, I'm still a
Psalm 62 kinda guy; but, confessionally, it feels pretty good to know...

I also got a note
from an elder that caused me to consider, uh, sigh, uh, maybe there are folks who
really know why I'll never stop unless/until assassinated by an
Islamofascistnutball, denominational jingoist, or local religionist who ran away
after being exposed: "Thank you for helping the young people come to a
closer relationship with Jesus."